Summer Update

Well Hi! It's been my goal all summer to get a new post up on the blog. And here I am, the last week of summer before we start school next Monday. Did you know I procrastinate?
It's been so long since I posted on here I'm not even sure what to write. I'll start with just an update from the things I wrote about in my last post, which was over a year ago. Sad.

Our fruit trees are still going strong. We've eaten some nectarines this year and they were delicious! Small, but delicious. The peach has some fruit that should be ripe in August. Our Golden Delicious apple tree is loaded with beautiful little apples, so hopefully I can get a crisp or a pie out of them. The pear tree was full of tiny little pears, and then dropped them all. That was pretty disappointing. We've also added another plum tree, so someday I'll be able to make lots of jam, something I've come to really enjoy.

In my last post I also wrote about our newly acquired chickens. Well, since then I am sad to say that we have lost one, Daisy. We've seen a fox a couple times on our property and think it got her while they were out roaming the yard. Hannah found a pile of feathers. :( Since then we've now added three new chickens: Nellie, Nugget and Popcorn. They are too young to lay eggs yet, and are still getting acquainted with the two big girls (our older chickens), meaning they are still terrified of them.

Buster is still an avid hunter, although he did have to take a break for a while after getting a puncture wound in his hind leg and tearing a ligament. We were supposed to keep him inside for six weeks and I think we made it three. He also had to wear the Cone of Shame (Cone of Dunshire?) for a while. He was not happy.

When he's not hunting, he's napping

And Tucker is the same. People still think he's a puppy despite the gray on his chin.

The kids have grown quite a bit. Hannah is now nine and starting 4th grade next week (How does this happen???). She completed her first year of 4H and raised a lamb named Gracie which she sold at the Salinas Valley Fair in King City. I am so proud of her and all the hard work she put in. I certainly never did anything like that when I was nine.

Hannah and Gracie

Caleb is five and finished preschool in May. Next week he will be starting kindergarten at the same school as Hannah. It was sad for me saying goodbye to the preschool teachers, as we may be completely done with the preschool phase of kids. On the upside, the kids will be at the same school and on the same schedule, yay! I will get more than three hours to myself a week which I am looking forward to. And Caleb is excited about going to his new class, but not excited about having to do school at home too. Everyone tells me teaching kindergarten for homeschool is easy, but I'm still nervous about it. I just don't know if he's going to sit still long enough to focus. Pray for me.

Caleb's 5th birthday. He decorated his cake.

Caleb and his preschool teacher on a field trip to the beach

Preschool Graduation

Other highlights from the past year:
Camping in Yosemite

Skiing at China Peak (Caleb's first time)

Hannah got baptized on Easter by Chris

Exploring the Carizzo Plains in the spring

Family trip to a Giants game

Our summer was full and as usual flew by. I got to go to Kauai for my sister's wedding (amazing!). I've convinced Chris we need to go back so we are saving up for that. The kids went to two VBS's and took swim lessons. The absolutely love the water. We made trips to visit family, went to the fair, played with cousins, and boogie boarded in Cayucos. I'm sad to see summer go, but also looking forward to some routine.

I hope you've had a great summer as well. Thanks for reading. I'll try to post again within the next year. :)